PLDT adds 5,000 km of cable to network

Philippine Long Distance Telephone Co. (PLDT) has installed over 5,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables in the first half of the year to support the aggressive roll-out of its high-speed data services for its fixed and mobile networks.

“If we include our international fiber optic links and leased facilities, the PLDT Group now has more than 71,000 kilometers of fiber assets,” said Napoleon Nazareno, president and chief executive officer of PLDT.

Costing about P2.5 billion, this expansion of PLDT’s fiber optics network is accelerating the deployment of its fiber-to-the-home (FTTH) service and the fourth-generation mobile data service, called long-term evolution (LTE), of its wireless subsidiary Smart Communications.

At the end of 2012, PLDT had over 54,000 kilometers of fiber optic cables in its domestic fiber optic network (DFON). That figure has been raised to over 60,000 by mid-2013. In addition, the company has almost 7,200 kilometers of international submarine fiber optic cables and over 4,000 kilometers of domestic submarine fiber.

“We have built early and we continue to expand as the demand for broadband heavy applications continues to surge. This is what we call future-proofing our network. We want to make sure that the capacity, speed, and reliability are there when our customers need them,” he said.

Expansion program
PLDT Technology Group head Rolando Peña said that PLDT’s FTTH service has reached two million homes as of end-June 2013 under the expansion program.

For its ultra-fast Fibr service alone, PLDT covered more than 600 high-end residential subdivisions across the country. PLDT Fibr provides subscribers with connection speed of up to 100 megabits per second (Mbps) that allows seamless streaming of high-definition movies.

Peña noted that PLDT mobile subsidiary, Smart, has also equipped over 500 base stations in Metro Manila with its high-speed LTE service which is supported by the fiber network. The LTE technology allows mobile speeds of up to 42 Mbps.

“Even as we hit our programmed expansion for the year in just six months, we continue to lay down fiber optic cables nationwide to accelerate our FTTH rollout and hit 2.2 million homes passed by the end of the year,” Peña said.